Thought the box score shows a 17th-place finish for Ryan Timms on Saturday night at Placerville (Calif.) Speedway’s Hangtown 100, it certainly doesn’t tell the full story.
After having struggles on Friday night, Timms came to life in the Sunday night feature. However, a pair of on-track issues out of his control hampered any shot of a solid finish.
“Friday night was a struggle with how hooked up and narrow the track was,” Timms said. “With the event being points based similar to Trophy Cup, it wasn’t idea, but the invert did ultimately put us on the front row of the 100-lap feature on Sunday night, and I felt great but a tangle in front of us knocked us out of the lead.”
Dealing with elements on Friday night that saw a couple of delays for weather rolling through the area, Timms timed the No. 67 in sixth fastest in his group before tallying a second-place finish in his heat race.
On a lightning-fast surface in the feature event, the 30-lapper went non-stop and Timms ended up picking up a 13th place finish.
Lining up by points on Sunday, Timms finished fifth in his qualifier and that ultimately had him 16th in Hangtown 100 points, which lined him up on the pole of the 100-lap feature event.
Making adjustments prior to the 100-lapper taking the green flag, Timms was extremely strong out of the gates as he quickly jumped out to the early lead. Navigating the quarter-mile bullring with precision, Timms set a strong early pace over fellow young gun, Corey Day.
Timms quickly found the rear of the field, but it would ultimately bite him. On the 14th lap, a pair of cars in front of him got together in turn four and it resulted in both he and Day getting collected and relinquishing the lead and the runner up spots.
Able to restart, Timms went to the back of the 28-car field, and continued to show speed as he carved his way back forward. Working through dense traffic, Timms was able to take his time and race his way back into the top 10 with time running out in the feature.
On the 86th lap, Timms endured contact front another car in turns one and two, and it resulted in him getting up into the thick Placerville Speedway cushion and stalling his car out as it spun him around.
When it was all said and done, the Oklahoma City, Okla. native capped his trip to Placerville Speedway off with a 17th-place finish.
“Big shoutout to my guys for working so hard and getting me a really good car when it mattered,” Timms said. “I also want to thank everyone with the track and the event for working hard to get the show in on Sunday, and getting us a nice track to race on despite all of the rain we took on Saturday. I am feeling good about these final three races of the season on a couple more bullrings.”